around the farm

 Raspberries are almost ripe! The bushes are loaded this year, and the one ripe berry I found was sweet and delicious! The sun was just beginning to set as I took my walk, and the golden sunlight filtering through the lush raspberry bushes was incredible. Honestly, I think the summers in Oregon are so beautiful and pleasant that it makes up for the seven or eight months of grey and rain!

 The garden is looking lovely right now. Not quite in full bloom, but lovely nonetheless. I took a lot of pictures last night, as we will eventually have a data base with a picture and description of every plant we grow. This will be a big project, so I am working on the pictures as I can. I thought about buying a macro lens for my camera, but the one I really wanted was six hundred dollars. Yikes! Maybe if I were earning a living by taking pictures I would plunk down the money without a second thought, but I am not, and so I will just keep an eye out for the lens used somewhere.

 Love having roses in bloom. This time of year is so crazy busy for us that my house is often times not as clean and organized as i would like it to be. A vase of beautiful roses always seems to add a note of beauty and charm, even if the rest of the house is lacking in those areas! I have them in the (clean because I can't stand a dirty bathroom) bathroom, dining room, kitchen (which is also clean because i can't work in a dirty kitchen and also because my new stove is coming today and I am too proud to let the installer dude see a dirty house) and living room. I am planning to go see my mother this evening, and will take her a big bunch, as she loves roses and always had a beautiful planting of them.

And, just because I really like the looks of the silo in the late evening light, one more garden picture! Blue berries and blackberries will be ready soon, and the eldest farm child just picked the first batch of green beans this morning! Hooray for fresh fruits and vegetables! Green beans with a garlicky, Asian sauce are on the menu for dinner tonight, along with champagne to celebrate the new stove and the harvest season! On second thought, the two don't really sound good together- better save the green beans for tomorrow night.....

another season

Beautiful strawberries

Coffee for sale, fresh roasted and delicious!

Baked goods on display

Strawberry tart

Colorful beets from the garden. Roasted in olive oil with fresh pepper and coarse salt for a perfect side dish!

Antiques for sale

Another farm season has begun. U-pick strawberries are in full swing, and the store selling already picked strawberries is also open. The store opened ten days ago, U-picks four days ago. Today was the first absolutely crazy day, where I was on the run from sun up until sun down. Even after the store and u-picks were closed for the day, I had to drive in to town with a load of (very, very) overdue library books. While I was downtown, I ran into a friend and her daughter and we walked to the gelateria and had gelato and coffee. It felt good to relax and enjoy the last few minutes of daylight, and unwind from the craziness of the day. Sometimes, the days are so busy and the cares of farm and home weigh heavily on me (not to complain-I love the life we have chosen and the business we have and life with my farmer and the farmhouse full of children) and I forget to enjoy the moment or season I am in. I feel as if I don't even have the time to enjoy it, I must just get through it. I am learning though, that the attitude of "I must just grit my teeth and get through this" is not the best attitude to adopt. Sure, there are lots of unpleasant tasks and onerous responsibilities that require such an attitude, but I do not want to view my whole life that way! I am much happier when I learn to enjoy the work I have been given to do, to laugh at the crazy days, to be grateful for this growing business, and to look for the joy in what seems sometimes to be an overwhelming day. It is there. I need only look for it. So! Enough philosophizing for one night! Tomorrow morning will come bright and early, and I am going to need a lot of coffee to make me bright!

The season begins!

Strawberry season has officially begun! The store selling already picked berries opened Monday, and u-picks will begin on Saturday. I am trying to figure out how to get pictures from my iPhone to my computer, as most of my photos these days are taken with my phone. On my phone I have pictures of beautiful, ruby red strawberries, darling little strawberry tarts, fresh beets, pies, and scones. You will have to imagine them until I either figure out the picture transfer thing or get down to the store with my camera! The last few days have been rainy and grey, and I have had no energy or motivation. Today, I woke to partly blue skies, sunshine, and a nice breeze which, if I were to be fanciful, I would say is blowing summer in for us. However, we will have more rainy, grey June days before summer really begins, days when I long for a warm fire and endless cups of hot coffee. My husband heard a quote (I believe in a British gardening book) that said "there is nothing as cold as a June day in England." We have decided, as we hug our mugs of coffee tightly to us this morning, that the same can be said of this area of Oregon!